How Changes to the American Healthcare Act Will Affect Medicaid

Proposed republican changes to the American Healthcare Act would modify changes in the health care system brought by the ACA and would also permanently restructure Medicaid, America’s largest government health care program. Medicaid pays for the long term care costs of 2/3 of nursing home residents, many middle-class Americans who spent all of their savings on care before becoming eligible for Medicaid. The proposed American Health Care Act would try to reduce the federal share of Medicaid spending by limiting how much the federal government would pay for each person enrolled in Medicaid. The results would be major reductions in federal spending on Medicaid over time leaving states to decide whether to raise more money to make up the difference or to cut back on medical coverage for people using Medicaid. If the American Health Care Act passes it would be the largest intergovernmental transfer of financial risk in US history. For more information and to read the complete article, follow our link.

G.O.P. Health Plan Is Really a Rollback of Medicaid

Tucked inside the Republican bill to replace Obamacare is a plan to impose a radical diet on a 52-year-old program that insures nearly one in five Americans.

The bill, of course, would modify changes to the health system brought by the Affordable Care Act. But it would also permanently restructure Medicaid, which covers tens of millions of poor or disabled Americans, including millions who are living in nursing homes with conditions like Alzheimer’s or the aftereffects of a stroke.

“This is the most consequential change in 50 years for low-income people’s health care,” said Joan Alker, the executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University. “This is a massive change that has hardly been discussed.”

Since its founding, Medicaid has operated as a partnership between the federal government and the states. Each pays a share of patients’ medical bills, with no overall limit on spending. The American Health Care Act would try to slim down the federal share of that spending, by limiting how much the federal government would pay for each person enrolled in the program. The Senate version of the legislation, expected this week, is likely to make the payments still leaner in later years. [read entire article]